Bookshelf: How to pass exams: A parent’s guide

Exams. The cornerstones of academic success. Given their importance parents often fret more about getting results than their children. This month’s addition to the bookshelf aims to equip parents with the right kind of useful advice…

How to pass exams: A parent’s Guide
David Lambourne
Forward Press (Need2Know), Paperback, £8.99
ISBN 978-1-86144-047-1

Important exams, such as GCSEs and A-Levels, can make for a nervewracking time – not just for candidates but for their parents too.

In fact, worrying is often all that parents can do – not sure what advice to give and a bit too long out of the ‘educational loop’ to fully understand how best to prepare for modern exams and coursework.

Enter How to Pass Exams: A Parent’s Guide, by David Lambourne, which aims to equip parents with the information needed to support their children as they study towards and then take exams (in particular, their GCSEs).

The good news is that’s what’s here is well-written, engaging and eminently practical and should prove useful to parents and children alike. Our only qualm? We’re just not sure how many children will take kindly to a lecture from Mum or Dad on study skills (however well intentioned) after a day hitting the books.

Author David, a former teacher and examiner, reckons that; “Children who get the help and support of their parents consistently do better at school than those children for whom home support doesn’t happen”. He undoubtedly has a point but talking about such things to a six-year-old may well be a whole lot easier than someone getting ready for GCSEs or A-levels.

In terms of content, as well as the kind of information you’d expect on structured essay writing and keeping cool on the day of the exam, there’s also lots of information on things like self-motivation and discipline and even on keeping your child healthy.

Tips on how to get relevant past exam papers and the importance of obtaining syllabus information should be well received while practical advice on planning time, taking notes and managing information will have universal appeal.

As a parent’s guide to study technique this book more than succeeds but we can’t help but think it would be more usefully targeted directly at students given its straightforward approach. As it stands, because this is a parent’s guide and talks about “your child” throughout, there’s a danger its tone will alienate exactly those students the book is trying to help!

It’s probably also fair to say that much of what is covered could also be found online (albeit in disparate places) for those inclined to seek it out.

Verdict

Parent’s looking for “pass notes” on exam preparation should definitely seek out this succinct, useful and inexpensive tome. Students too have much to gain if they either listen to Mum and Dad or read it themselves.